U.S. Department 

of Transportation 

Federal Railroad 

Administration 

APR 2 3 2013 

Mr. Jeff Martin 

Chief Logistics Officer 

Administrator 

National Railroad Passenger Corporation 

30th Street Station 

Box 12, 5th Floor, SE Tower 

Philadelphia, PA 19104 

Re: Request for Waiver of Buy America Requirement 

Dear Mr. Martin: 

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE 

Washington, DC 20590 

This letter is in response to your August 8, 2012, request that the National Railroad 

Passenger Corporation (Amtrak) be granted a waiver from the Federal Railroad 

Administration's (FRA) Buy America provision, at 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(1), to purchase four 

(4) No. 32.75 136RE Special Turnouts (Turnouts) manufactured by voestalpine Nortrak, Inc. 

(Nortrak) for use in the New York City to Trenton, New Jersey High-Speed Rail 

Improvements Program (NY-NJ HSR Program). For the reasons set forth below, FRA is 

granting Amtrak's request. 

The NY-NJ HSR Program, funded through a $449,944,000 American Recovery and 

Reinvestment Act grant from FRA, will upgrade and improve the catenary, power, track, and 

signal systems on the Northeast Corridor primarily between New Brunswick, New Jersey and 

Trenton, New Jersey. It will also improve the western approach tracks in New York City's 

Penn Station to facilitate increased speeds and improved reliability for all users and eventual 

higher levels of service. As you know, the Turnouts will be used as part of track and 

structures upgrades that will progress between New Brunswick, New Jersey and Trenton, 

New Jersey. Specifically, the Turnouts will be included in the design of new high speed 

interlockings known as "Delco" and "Adams" to support high speed train operations by 

adding high speed diverging moves not currently possible. The new interlockings will allow 

New Jersey Transit (NJT) zone express trains to diverge from the high-speed tracks to the 

local tracks. The new interlockings will allow an 80 miles per hour (possibly higher) 

movement for NJT trains and other Regional Amtrak services operating simultaneously. 

The cost of the Turnouts is approximately $2 million. The foreign material comprises 

approximately 13 percent of the cost of the Turnouts or approximately $260,000. The 

Turnouts will be manufactured by Nortrak at its plant in Birmingham, Alabama, but will 

contain several components (ZU 1-60 steel left and right switch point rail sections and 

Schwihag roller assemblies and plates) that are not produced in the United States. 
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Section 24405(a)(l) authorizes the Secretary of Transportation to obligate grant funds only if 

the steel, iron, and manufactured goods used in the project are produced in the United States. 

The FRA believes a waiver is appropriate under 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(2)(B) for the ZUI-60 

steel switch point rail sections and Schwihag roller assemblies and plates because 

domestically produced components meeting the specific needs of Amtrak for this application 

(i.e., specialized high-speed turnouts) are not currently "produced in sufficient and 

reasonably available amount or are not of a satisfactory quality." Amtrak also requested a 

waiver for the Turnout's vee point. However, FRA determined that a waiver is not necessary 

with regard to the vee point. The FRA considers manufactured goods produced in the U.S. if 

they are manufactured in the U.S. from components that are manufactured in the U.S·. No 

restrictions are placed on the subcomponents of the manufactured goods. See 

http://www.fra.dot.gov/Page/P0391 (FAQ number 6). Because the vee point is a 

subcomponent of one of the Turnout's components (the moveable point frog), a waiver from 

the Buy America requirement is not necessary. 

In order to determine whether to grant Amtrak's request, FRA provided notice and an 

opportunity for comment on its public website. The FRA received six comments to the 

website notice. All commenters encouraged finding domestic sources for the components. 

Two commenters stated that the cost information should be considered when evaluating the 

waiver request. No commenter identified a supplier for the components. The FRA also used 

the services of the National Institute for Standards and Technology Manufacturing Extension 

Partnership (MEP) in order to scout for domestic sources for the components. The MEP 

supplier scouting analysis revealed that the steel sections from which the switch point rails 

are machined (by Nortrak) appeared to be available from a domestic manufacturing source. 

However, follow up discussions among MEP, Amtrak, and that potential domestic source 

revealed that, though it was determined that the company could roll the necessary steel, it 

was not currently doing so. In addition, the company was not certain a business case could 

be made for it given the low number of switch point rails needed and the expense of setting 

up to roll the long sections of steel. 

The MEP also found that roller assemblies and plates potentially meeting the specific 

requirements of the Turnouts were available from domestic manufacturers. However, follow 

up discussions with these companies revealed that though several companies made similar 

items, the current ability to produce the items to the specification required by Amtrak did not 

exist without retool and retest in the No. 32.75 136RE Special Turnout needed for this 

project. 

Importantly, FRA is currently funding a grant to Nortrak for the research and development of 

a high-speed rail turnout design that is based on U.S. specifications. The goal ofthe research 

is to yield a Buy America compliant high-speed turnout. The grant runs through June 2013 

and is expected to yield as a deliverable a drawing package suitable for bid. The next phase 

of the project (if funded) would be construction and test of the turnout at FRA's 

Transportation Testing Center in Pueblo, Colorado. Despite this research, the potential for a 

compliant turnout that may be available in the future and the timing of this waiver, the 

current availability of compliant components is at issue. 
Page 3 

As you know, Amtrak is currently in the early stages of procurement ofthe Turnouts, which 

require approximately 300 days for delivery. Once delivered, Amtrak must assemble the 

Turnouts at one of its Maintenance of Way facilities, which takes approximately one to two 

months. Then, once assembled, Amtrak must deliver the Turnouts by train to the locations 

where they will be installed. The tracks at Adams and Delco are scheduled to go out of 

service in February 2014 in order for the Turnouts to be installed. This outage has been 

planned with and agreed to by NJT. Accordingly, in order to have enough time to assemble 

the Turnouts prior to their installation in February 2014, the Turnouts must be delivered to 

Amtrak no later than early January 2014. This means that Amtrak must be able to place its 

order for the Turnouts not later than the end of March 2013. For this reason, even if a U.S. 

specification could be designed and steel switch point rail sections rolled and roller 

assemblies and plates meeting the needs of these specific turnouts fabricated and retested, it 

would happen too late to meet the tight project deadline for the long lead time Turnouts 

needed for this project. 

Pursuant to 49 U.S.C. § 24405(a)(4), FRA will publish this letter granting Amtrak's request 

in the Federal Register and provide notice of such finding and an opportunity for public 

comment after which this waiver will become effective. This waiver applies only to the ZUI60 steel switch point rail sections and Schwihag roller assemblies and plates as manufactured 

into the four No. 32.75 Turnouts installed on the NY -NJ HSR Program. As you are aware, 

discussions between MEP, Amtrak, Nortrak, and other companies that have the potential to 

produce these items are ongoing and future requests for a waiver will not be granted without 

a specific shoWing that significant good faith efforts to obtain a domestic source for the items 

have been made. The FRA staff will stay involved in these discussions and will assist in 

whatever way needed. 

Question about this letter can be directed to, Linda Martin, Senior Attorney-Advisor, at 

Linda.Martin@dot.gov or 202-493-6062. 

Sincerely, 

Joseph C. Szabo 

Administrator